By means of peer-to-peer systems, it is possible to network a multiplicity of devices, referred to hereinbelow as peer devices, to one another. Communication between the peer devices takes place via the protocol of a communications network, for example the internet. The peer devices participating in the peer-to-peer network can offer defined services such as e.g. the automatic translation of a text. It is possible by means of peer-to-peer networks to enable network-wide resource or service sharing without having to use central infrastructures such as central server devices.
Since the peer devices in peer-to-peer networks of this type generally offer very specialized services, a composition of subtasks is required in order to implement complex services. This can be achieved for example through the chaining of simple subtasks. It is conceivable, for example, for a textchat application which is accessed from a PDA (personal digital assistant) to be diverted to a speech output. This may be necessary, for example, if the user of the PDA is driving a motor vehicle on the road. It is also conceivable for an automatic translation service to be connected upstream of the speech output in order firstly to translate the textchat into the mother tongue of the user. The chaining of the subtasks textchat, automatic translation and text-to-speech output realizes in this way a dynamically composed service, it being possible for the subtasks to be executed by different peer devices in the network.